Plato defines rhetoric as “the art of ruling the minds of men” (Bloom). The sophists were instructors in the disciplines of rhetoric and overall excellence. Their teachings thrived in the fifth century B.C. Through the work of Protagoras, Gorgias, Antiophon, and other sophists, the people of Athens gained higher education and stopped accepting everything they were taught as absolute fact. This questioning of traditional philosophical schools eventually led to the emergence of other ways of thought such as skepticism.
According to the Oxford Online Dictionary, the word sophist comes from the Greek word “sophos,” meaning “wise” (“sophist, n.”). The word came to describe those who were an expert in their field or craft, much like the term philosopher was used. A man who was a skilled warrior may be considered a sophist in battle. Later, the word evolved to describe primarily a collective group of teachers who trained others in the art of rhetoric in exchange for financial compensation.
Sophists and their teachings became widespread in the latter fifth century B.C. in Athens, Greece, which was a major cultural hub in the ancient world. At this point, Greece had dominated the trade industry around the Mediterranean Sea, so Greece had great power among the critical urban cities. After the Athenians defeated the Persians, they began to esteem themselves as an elevated people. The population began to focus on broadening their intelligence and understanding of the world. The theatre reached a pinnacle as playwrights such as Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides began to write classics for example Agamemnon, Oedipus Rex, and Antigone. Satire plays which criticized the government became much more common. Great philosophers like ...
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... the sophists are significant. They educated many Athenians, providing the country with greater numbers of intelligent, literate persuaders. They impacted the ways that laws were brought about because they were some of the leading thinkers of the time. The sophists also questioned many of the traditionally accepted schools of thought, which planted the seed that eventually grew into the skeptic movement. The skeptics were a group of people who examined the limitations of human knowledge.
The teachings of sophism stressed highly on the importance of rhetoric and overall excellence. Even though sophists are often looked on in a negative light, lessons can be learned from the fifth century scholars. The art of rhetoric can get one far in life. When man can defend both sides of an argument or persuade his objective, there is no limit to what man can achieve.
In his essay entitled “The Rhetorical Stance,” Wayne Booth describes how rhetorical stance is imperative for good writing. I agree with Booth that by using rhetoric stance in our writing we can produce and powerful and well-written argument. How then do we know if we are using the art of rhetoric in our writing? According to Booth, “Rhetoric is the art of finding and employing the most effective means of persuasion on any subject, considered independently of intellectual mastery of that subject" (199). In making this comment Booth urges us to be knowledgeable on the subject we are writing about and use passion and emotional appeals to strengthen our argument. Booth gives his readers a good explanation of what the word means and how it is portrayed in essays.
In the time of ancient Greece, there were a category of teachers called the sophists who believed that wisdom and Rhetoric could and should be used for profit and personal gain. Aristotle, a well-known teacher, disagreed with this completely and believed that while Rhetoric is persuasive, it should be used morally and with good intentions. He stressed the idea of using moral standards along with emotion, logic and truth to persuade any audience. Almost 1000 years later, Augustine took this step even further with the use of rhetoric within religion practice. He emphasized the idea that rhetoric is a means by which to promote good will and spread truth. Today, modern rhetorician Dubinsky would take this step even further, by stating that Rhetoric isn’t just a means to an end. Rhetoric improves our very lives and unites people under a common good with the proper ethics. While it is unfortunate that they are from different time periods, Aristotle, St Augustine, and Dubinsky would surely all agree that Rhetoric is a means by which regular people can be persuasive with their ideals. All while using the right morals, good intentions, and correct ethics to do so, so that any regular person can influence and change their world, from the simplest of arguments to the greatest of debates. That is why I believe we should study these famous rhetoricians, because their teachings teach us how to become better people and better writers. Aristotle, St. Augustine, and Dubinsky believed in Ethos, Pathos, and Logos, which means studying and working with your audience to persuade them in such way that you’re collaborating for the benefit of both the writer and the reader.
Aristotle believed that rhetoric is a skill habit of mind that is, in itself, morally neutral and can be used for good or ill. He believed th...
Isocrates did not appreciate the teaching methods or claims of the Sophists. When Isocrates wrote Against the Sophists, He was highly critically of the teaching methods of the Sophists. Isocrates used kairos and prepon in his teachings , both of which the Sophists lacked. The textbook indicates Isocrates views on teaching from “ Discourses designed to rally audiences to traditional values, perspectives, and behaviors”. Unlike the Sophists Isocrates felt he was obligated to teach not only his students but also Greece society. For example " he did so in his letters and treatises, such as panegyricus and Aeropagiticus". Both philosophers and sophist influenced Isocrates. In the textbook Isocrates states “ those who profess to teach political discourse. For the latter have no interest whatever in the truth, but consider that they are masters of an art”. In Against the Sophists Isocrates indicates these sophist preach the power of rhetoric but they fail to mention the art form in which it takes to make rhetoric profound. To become a true philosopher one must aim to achieve education that will develop the wisdom needed. The Sophists were never going to give a student the education needed to receive true
The relationship between rhetoric and truth is a highly conflicted topic. Two philosophers that discuss this topic are Plato and Nietzsche. Plato argues that rhetoric is merely a useful craft that deals only in the subjective and material world rather than in the pursuit of true knowledge. Nietzsche, on the other hand, argues that absolute truths are unobtainable since individuals are incapable of being completely objective, thereby rendering the debate between rhetoric and truth meaningless. Although both are valid points of view, Nietzsche’s argument appears to hold more weight insofar as it seems to solve the debate between rhetoric and truth by eliminating absolute truth altogether.
Socrates was accused of being a sophist, a professional philosopher. Sophists were seen as corrupters of society and as generally bad men. Socrates says that every one of these accusations is false. He tells the Athenians a story where he asks a man who he would hire to educate his sons and how much that man's services would cost. The man replies that he would hire Evenus of Paros, and that he charges 500 drachmae. Socrates expresses his surprise that any man could be good enough to charge that much money. The man says that Evenus is the best tutor in the world. Socrates says that he does not posses the knowledge or wisdom to do anything even remotely close to what Evenus does. Socrates never charged money for his lessons, and he never really did any formal teaching. He had followers, and they claim that they learned a lot from him. But the fact is, Socrates never did any formal instruction, so he never told people what to believe. Therefore, Socrates could not have corrupted the youth with his teaching, because...
Aristotle on Rhetoric Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) was a Greek philosopher, educator, and scientist. He was able to combine the thoughts of Socrates and Plato to create his own ideas and definition of rhetoric. He wrote influential works such as Rhetoric and Organon, which presented these new ideas and theories on rhetoric. Much of what is Western thought today evolved from Aristotle's theories and experiments on rhetoric. Aristotle's Life Aristotle was born in 384 B.C., in Northern Greece.
Socrates was a traveling teacher and talked and challenged everyone he met. Socrates taught the art of persuasive speaking. He did not charge people money like most of the other Sophists did, but he did have similar beliefs as the Sophists. Sophists thought that our minds are cut off from reality and that we are stuck in our own opinions of what the world was like. Socrates believed that reason or nature could not tell us why the world is the way it appears. The Sophists' point of view is best summed up as this: we can never step out of the way things appear.
Plato and Aristotle are two rhetoricians than had a great impact on the history of rhetoric. Although they were similar in many ways, their use and definition of rhetoric were different. Plato had the more classical approach where he used rhetoric as a means of education to pass down his beliefs and practice of rhetoric to his students. He believed that it should be used to educate the masses, provoking thought, and thereby preserving that knowledge. Plato thought that rhetoric should be used to convey truth, truths already known to the audience, revealed through that dialectic critical thought. Plato also operated on absolute truths, things that are right or wrong, black or white. Aristotle was more modern in that he used rhetoric as a tool of persuasion in the polis. He thought that the main purpose of rhetoric was to persuade, provoking emotions for his audience as a tool of persuasion. Aristotle’s rhetoric was more science based, using enthymemes and syllogism to foster logical thinking. He believed that rhetoric was a means of discovering truth. His rhetoric was highly deliberative since he used it mainly for persuasion. I will discuss their differences in more depth in the following essay.
Rhetoric is the art of effective speaking or writing, and persuasion. Most people use rhetoric numerous of times in their everyday life without their concern or knowing.
To get a sense of what an education was intended for we must look at the ancient Greek society. The philosophers like the Sophist, Socrates, and Plato were a major part of the Greek society and the rest of the world. Take the Sophist for example, these scholars who would, for a fee, travel to give public lectures on such subjects as math, grammar, rhetoric, ethics and science. For the citizens, lectures were not only an educational experience, it was also considered a form of ...
To conclude, it can be said that Sophocles and Euripides both were great playwrights and important characters of Ancient Greek Civilization. In addition, they contributed western literature by innovating drama and theatre.
Sophocles, a Greek author and philosopher, created a magnificent work of literature, Oedipus Rex. Oedipus Rex describes the legendary tales that King Oedipus of Thebes took in order to confirm that his biological parents were King Polybus of Corinth and his wife Merope. This tragedy of fate explores the depths of modern psychoanalysis as Oedipus unwittingly kills his father and marries his mother in an attempt to avoid the very prophecy he ultimately fulfills. The play was created by Sophocles, an intellectual philosopher that was born in 495 B.C. about a mile northwest of Athens. Sophocles has become one of the most prominent playwrights of the golden age. He was a son of a wealthy merchant, therefore, he enjoyed all the benefits of a thriving Greek empire. As an accomplished actor, Sophocles performed in many of his own plays, such as Oedipus Rex. The famous Sophocles is known as one of the greatest innovators of the theatre. The Theatre of Dionysus is where the greatest playwrights performed their infamous tales, it was a major open-air theatre build in Athens, the theatre was dedicated to the god of wine and fertility, it hosted the City Dionysia festival. The Theatre of Dionysus is where Oedipus Rex is first acknowledged to the world. Oedipus Rex embodies the nature of life and society in ancient Greece.
Socrates was a philosopher who set out to prove, to the gods, that he wasn't the wisest man. Since he could not afford a "good" Sophist teacher, surely a student of one had to be smarter than he. He decides to converse with the youth of Athens, but concludes that he actually is wiser than everyone he speaks with. He then realizes that their lack of intelligence is the fault of their teachers. Socrates understands that the practice of "sophism" leads to a lack of self-knowledge and moral values. Socrates was later accused of corrupting the youth of Athens and put on trial. In The Apology of Socrates he sta...
Philosophy can be defined as the pursuit of wisdom or the love of knowledge. Socrates, as one of the most well-known of the early philosophers, epitomizes the idea of a pursuer of wisdom as he travels about Athens searching for the true meaning of the word. Throughout Plato’s early writings, he and Socrates search for meanings of previously undefined concepts, such as truth, wisdom, and beauty. As Socrates is often used as a mouthpiece for Plato’s ideas about the world, one cannot be sure that they had the same agenda, but it seems as though they would both agree that dialogue was the best way to go about obtaining the definitions they sought. If two people begin on common ground in a conversation, as Socrates often tries to do, they are far more likely to be able to civilly come to a conclusion about a particular topic, or at least further their original concept.